The Lolo Lowdown on the Green Dragon

Brewpublic just spoke with Lorren “Lolo” Lancaster regarding the potential Rogue take over of the Green Dragon Pub and Bistro. Lancaster, a 1/3 owner of the popular Southeast Portland beer geek hangout is well known and liked by the community of regulars who frequent the Green Dragon.

When I asked Lancaster about the recent news of a potential selling of his beloved bar, he says, “I am great. I feed off the energy.” Lancaster says “I only found out about Ed (Schwartz) and Rogue (planning a deal) ten days ago. I wondered why (Schwartz) didn’t come to me first.” Lancaster has retained lawyers to help him keep the Green Dragon’s independent character. “I got a copy of the agreement Rogue hit Ed with” says Lancaster. “Ed’s going to receive a paper that I intend to purchase within 30 days.” Currently Lancaster maintains that he is meeting with business investors. “I expected Ed would have come to me first, but he didn’t” says Lancaster “He said he wanted $225,000 to get out. That’s way too cheap. The Dragon made almost half of that in September. September was our one-year anniversary. No businesses make money in the first year.” Lancaster also claims that the Green Dragon is about two weeks out on permits for the brewhouse to be legally operational. “This is (Schwartz)’s first rodeo. I’ve been in this business for thirteen years” says Lancaster, 39, whose last job was as a brewer with Deschutes in Bend for four years. Before that, Lancaster spent four-and-a-half years as the lead brewer for Anderson Valley in Boonville, California. He also brewed briefly with Star Brewing of Portland. Lancaster served for more than three years as draft technician with F.H. Steinbarts. “I’ve never burned a bridge” says Lancaster, who remains in contact with most of his former employers.

Lorren "Lolo" Lancaster @ Green Dragon

According to Lancaster, the papers for the Green Dragon to change ownership to Rogue could be signed tomorrow. “I have nothing against Rogue” he says. “Jack Joyce (founder, CEO) is a business man. (Rogue) is just seeing a sweet deal. It is like a classic automobile collector finding a desirable car for sale way under-price. You can’t blame them for trying to move in on it.” It appears that Lancaster’s most upset with Green Dragon’s current majority owner, Schwartz. “All Ed wants is his money. He doesn’t care about beer stuff” says Lancaster. “This is my life. I don’t want to be some guy in an office shuffling papers around. I want to brew!”

Allegedly, Rogue will began conducting interviews tomorrow at their Flanders Street Pub in NW Portland with current Green Dragon employees. “Rogue’s Manifesto basically states that they will never bow down to corporate breweries” says Lancaster (referring to Rogue’s Declaration of Independence). “I am going to apply for a dishwasher job and see if I am qualified.”

Lancaster is unclear what Rogue’s main interest is in a purchase of the Green Dragon, other than its obvious popularity amongst craft beer lovers. Distiller Kieran Sienkiewicz was recently laid off from Integrity Spirits, a company that Schwartz is also a minority owner in, and shares the building with Green Dragon. Lancaster says Jerome Chicvara is behind the move to let go of Sienkiewicz. Chicvara, a Full Sail investor, craft beer representative for Maletis Beverage and former CEO of Portland Brewing is a majority investor in Integrity. “In my opinion” continues Lancaster “Rogue is looking at the distillery and sees it outselling them about ten-to-one. That could very well be what they are most interested in.” Sienkiewicz and current Integrity distiller Rich Phillips are both former distillers for Rogue.

Lancaster appears quite optimistic about the future. “I recently spoke with Rich Wolfe, my mentor” he says. Wolfe is the head of Siebel Institute of Technology’s economic advisory board. “He gave me a lot of great information. He’s a good cat, super smart and informed me of my rights.” Lancaster summates his feelings for the Green Dragon saying “My passion for beer, like others’ creates it own reallity. Always changing and evolving like society. Beer is an inherent part of culture. I wanna brew!”

About The Author

Angelo

Angelo grew up in Maine and is proud to call New England his original home. Cascadia is now his home. He fell in love with great beer in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.
He has been a correspondent for the Portland Tribune's Guest on Tap column, LivePDX.com, and has been featured in publications such as Beer Northwest and PDX Magazine. Angelo also has a great interest in independent music, and has been a booker and organizer for shows around the Portland under the name Pop Tomorrow! Angelo garnered much knowledge regarding beer from his experiences homebrewing, working at Belmont Station, Pyramid Brewing, Upright Brewing, By the Bottle, Beer Revolution, Olde Depot Public House, Falling Sky Brewing, Cascade Brewing, and from many many knowledgeable, passionate, and loving people along the way. It is Angelo's mission to bring "infotainment" and "edumation" to the readers of this website. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to contribute, please contact me at angelo@brewpublic.com

Lets make the Green Dragon a co-op. Let the community buy shares of the business to raise money and keep it in business. Co-op beer geek bar anyone? Sounds like another Oregon first in the world of beer to me.

We the minority owners of The Green Dragon, the little people, the Founders Club, the loyal patrons who love the Dragon so, openly declare war on the oppressive forces of the Rogue Nation. We make this Declaration in response to Rogue’s direct attack upon the Dragon.

For those who do not know, Rogue is seeking to execute a hostile take over of the Dragon. This takeover is against the wishes of the masses. Our pockets may not be deep, but our hearts are, and our numbers many.

I implore you to visit Rogue’s website and read their creed, their declaration of independence and what they believe in. Their creed makes many claims about the beliefs and values of the Nation. If you read the creed you will see that the Nation’s actions are in direct violation of their creed. Due to the Nation’s direct violation of their creed we request that all members of the Nation, who believe in what Rogue allegedly stands for, to stand with us in our new revolution. We encourage you to act in some sort of symbolic protest. Perhaps all members of the Nation who are against the Treasonous acts of their leaders, mail or deliver their Nation ID’s back to Rogue. Ghandi was at the forefront of non-violence protest, the art of Satyagraha—the résistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience. Join us!

Rogue claims to be a small revolution. They aspire to be a successful organization “without being big.” Rogue claims they will “stand up to the big guy trying to bully his way into whatever business or territory he wants.” They claim Rogue will be “David.” In Rogue’s “Fundamental Agreement” they make many claims such as: “they will be honest on the battlefield, and most important “cut out the BS.”

The Nation further believes as stated in their “Declaration of Independence” that the members of their nation “are endowed with certain unalienable Rights, that among these Freedom of Expression, Absence of Bull Shit, Variety, and the pursuit of Beer with Taste. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituting among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the Consumers: that when any Form of Government becomes destructive to taste, Expression, Quality, or Fun, it is the right of the Consumers to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new Government.” Further, they declare that all members of their Nation shall “of Right ought to be Free and Independent.” Well Rogue, we the Consumers, we the family of Green Dragon, wish to abolish you from our nation.

The leaders of the Nation need to take a long look in the mirror. There they will find a bunch of hypocrites. They are a large multi-national corporation, seeking to take down the little guy. I am certain this backdoor sneak attack, an undercover theft of the Dragon, is not “honesty on the battlefield.” The Dragon’s alleged crime: trying to build a place for the neighborhood, a place where friends and family can drink good beer and food at reasonable prices. We the family of the Dragon truly represent David and we will take down the Goliath known as Rogue. If they truly believe the claims they make on their website, they will lay their arms down and leave the battlefield. If you, the leaders of the Nation surrender now, we many revolutionaries will take no further action, you will be allowed to return to your homes. However, you will get no spoils of war from us.

Just like the founding fathers based at the Original Green Dragon, who formed a revolution to crush the British, we also will spill Rogue’s Tea. The Founding Fathers of the United States wrote in their Declaration of Independence: “When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal stationed to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause which impel them to separation.” (July 4, 1776). We, the many of the Dragon, are equally stationed, our opinions dictate and require that you remain separate. Two separate nations free to do what they desire.

This aggression will not stand….man (“The Dude”)

“Let us cry havoc and release the [dragons] of war.” (William Shakespeare and his dogs)

Getting the bad news here in L.A. of what is going on. We, Thomas, Danny and I, are pretty pissed off about the whole thing. Just want to let let you know that we support you 100%. We had a great time at the Green Dragon and were looking forward to more great times with you there. Well just let us know where to route our next Brew Tour in 2009 to meet up with you. Even if you are employed as a dishwasher at a Brewery, we will hang with you.